· European stocks were slightly lower Thursday morning, as market participants monitored the latest flurry of corporate results.
The pan-European Stoxx 600 was down around 0.2 percent during early morning deals, with almost all sectors and major bourses in negative territory.
· In Asia, MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares, excluding Japan, edged up 0.2 percent — reaching its highest level since early October.
Trading was light on Thursday, with China's financial markets closed for the Lunar New Year.
Back in Europe, investors are likely to closely monitor the Bank of England's latest interest rate decision at midday. The U.K.'s central bank will also release its inflation report, with 50 days to go before the country is expected to leave the European Union.
· Japanese stocks fell on concerns about slowing corporate earnings growth, though SoftBank Group allayed some of the anxiety as its shares jumped after the index-heavy firm announced a share buyback and above-expected third-quarter profits.
Subaru Corp was also in the spotlight, rallying 6 percent even though it cut its annual operating profit forecast as the automaker struggled with production issues from a defect in one of its components. Traders said that investors, who had shorted the stock over the past year on concerns about its earnings, covered their short positions. Subaru shares tanked 34 percent last year.
The Nikkei share average dropped 0.6 percent to 20,751.28.
The broader Topix declined 0.8 percent to 1,569.03, with all but one of its 33 subsectors in the red.
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